Task dependencies feature is now live!

Today is finally the day we release a feature that we have had on our roadmap for quite some time now, and boy is it a great feeling.

I have lost count of the amount of times people have requested this feature in the past and it was always hard to just say to them all, “it’s on our roadmap, so we will be adding this in down the line.” That’s why it fills me with great joy to finally announce the full release of the new feature — “Task Dependences”.

(pause for loud thunderous applause)

We have spent a large,hugeincredibly massive amount of time working on making Dependencies powerful but incredibly easy-to-use and understand. One of the major issues we faced was deciding how to go about adding in this type of feature in — if it wasn’t done correctly TeamworkPM would start to move us away from our vision: Project Management Made easy!

To make sure we stayed true to this statement we spent a a lot of time and drank large amounts of coffee debating, designing and re-designing every part of this new feature. We really hope you all enjoy the outcome…

So, how do you use task dependencies?

Well now when you click into the add a task section you will see for the first time a lightly greyed out link called more. We did this to keep the interface as clean as possible and to avoid adding too much confusion to new users and well as users who don’t wish to use dependencies.

Once you click on the more link it will reveal the new Dependencies tab. To hide this tab again just click on “less” on the right hand side.
When you go ahead and add a task you will now have the option to make the task linked/dependent on other tasks within the task lists in the project.

In these screen shots I have my first task added in called “Design the new look”.

The second task on the list is, “Sign off on design”, which I assigned to Dan.
I set up the task so Dan can’t start his task until my first task of “Design the new look” is completed. A red stop sign appears in-front of his task to let him know that there is another task on the project holding him up.

These stop sign type icons allow you to quickly see what tasks can’t be completed because they are waiting on other tasks within the project to be completed first.

You will notice the last task on the list has a green stop sign in front of it. What this means is that the task can be started but can’t be completed until certain tasks are completed first.

Below is a short video I have made to show you just how task dependencies actually works when you are using them; sometimes it’s a lot easier to see a feature in operation.

5 Comments

I really like how the dependencies work. once you get the concept (this can’t be done until that one is done, basically) it’s very easy to use, and quite useful. The only problem I’m seeing is that dependencies don’t exist as far as the iPhone app is concerned. Not a big deal, really, but an update would be nice.

Of course, that’s only if it doesn’t delay Dropbox integration. As far as I’m concerned, everything else can wait until that is done. That’s THE killer feature for us.

Oh yeah, one other comment: Why is it hidden behind the “More” button? It’s the only thing there, so all that does is make it take two clicks where one should be enough. I don’t see how “More>>” is ireally any cleaner or clearer than “Dependencies”. Maybe just make it a “More” tab that has Dependencies on it, and whatever else you may add in the future that could be considered “advanced” features? I just don’t think clicking a bit of text to reveal a single new tab makes any sense.